Understand The Mentality Of Islamophobias

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In order to understand the mentality of those who are Islamophobic, it is necessary to define the term itself. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a phobia is an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation. The word Islam literally translates into surrender which is supposed to imply surrendering to God. Islam is also a cognate of the Arabic word Salam which means peace (Godlas). The term Islamophobia was first introduced as a concept in a 1991 report by an independent research and social policy agency known as the Runnymede Trust (Defining). The report focused on xenophobic attitudes towards Muslims in the United Kingdom and Europe, but the term Islamophobia became widely …show more content…

Typically, Islamophobics will claim that Islam does not have any commonalities or similar values with other cultures and religions. However, both Judaism and Islam share the same belief that Abraham is the father of their people. Islam, just like many other major religions, focuses on teaching compassion, forgiveness, and love. Furthermore, Islam is a monotheistic religion just like Christianity and Judaism. Not only does Islam believe in one true God, but that one true God is merciful and loving (Godlas). These significant and crucial similitudes are often overlooked due to xenophobic cherry-picking of data, especially by Western …show more content…

For example, Islam is commonly perceived as “barbaric, irrational, primitive, and sexist” according to the report. Along those same lines, Islam is also seen as “violent, aggressive, threatening, and supportive of terrorism” (Conway). These criticisms of Islam are often justified by this idea of a primitive and ignorant religion. For example, the Runnymede Trust report states that anti-Muslim hostility has become widely accepted as natural and normal. As a society, Islamophobia has started to become institutionalized through complete and utter dismissal of the opinions and views of Muslims, specifically critical statements made by Islamic leaders of the United States. The combination of patriotism bordering on nationalism with xenophobic and paternalistic tendencies has resulted in a highly toxic view of the Muslim

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